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Digital India Act 2023: The government is preparing to bring a new Digital India Bill in place of the decades-old Information Technology Act. Taking steps in this direction, the Central Government has presented the formal outline of the Digital India Act 2023. The present Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 has several limitations. Hence, Union Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar has drafted DIA in its place. This is a proposed draft, on which a lot of work is yet to be done. According to Union Minister Rajiv Chandrasekhar, only 5.5 million Indians were on the Internet before and today, 850 million citizens are connected to the web. In this way our country has become the largest democracy digitally.
What is Digital India Act (DIA)?
- It aims to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India goal by 2026 and create a $1 trillion digital economy by 2025-26.
- The proposed law will offer accountable and responsive digital operators, updated intermediary framework, obligations of digital operators, algorithmic transparency and supportive and appellate mechanisms for risk assessment by digital entities.
- The DIA will have a core team of Minister of State (MoS) IT in the Ministry of IT, Additional Secretary, GC Cyber Law, ASG an external legal expert and an industry expert.
- The draft digital bill will have a comparative study of all relevant global laws relating to internet and technology in other countries. According to the minister, there will be consultation with experts, general public, industry, media, academia, student community, internet governance forums and consumer forums for DIA.
- Initiatives to be taken under DIA include Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, National Data Governance Policy, Indian Penal Code (IPC) amendments related to cyber crimes and DIA Rules.
Why is this act necessary?
During the presentation, the Union Minister said that from one type of internet intermediary in the year 2000, there have been many types of intermediaries (e-commerce, digital media, social media, AI, OTT, gaming etc.) today. We are facing new sophisticated forms of catfishing, doxing, cyber stalking, cyber trolling, gaslighting and phishing etc. Also, the spread of hate speech, disinformation and fake news are other serious concerns. According to Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the country needs global standard cyber laws to act as a catalyst and enabler for a $1 trillion digital economy. The proposed Digital India Act (DIA) will push the current regulatory landscape in India to control Big Tech and empower millions of citizens.
When will the bill be introduced?
According to media sources, the draft of the Digital India Bill will be further tightened after the next round of talks. The draft bill is likely to be released in April, followed by 45-60 days of public discussion, and then presented to Parliament for final approval. It is believed that the draft bill will be presented in the Parliament in July.
Posted By: Shailendra Kumar
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